Sparkly vampires and shirtless werewolves maintained a supernatural hold on the box office going into the Thanksgiving weekend, but from now until Christmas, the studios are banking on their prestige pictures — the movies that could pull in both big box office and a few gold statuettes during awards season.

Brad Pitt stars in "Killing Them Softly." The Weinstein Company photo.

Until a few years ago, the holidays were almost exclusively the province of Oscar hopefuls, and there is no shortage of prospects in 2012 — potential awards front-runners abound, including Ang Lee's “Life of Pi,” David O. Russell's “The Silver Linings Playbook” and Quentin Tarantino's “Django Unchained.” But now, some of the budget-busting mega-franchises that used to exclusively dominate summer are taking over the multiplexes at the end of the year, too, including a long-awaited return to Middle Earth.

What follows is a list of the big releases coming to theaters between now and Jan. 4 — yes, the prestige films are starting to spill over into next year. All dates are subject to change, just in case Peter Jackson decides to do some last minute tinkering on “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.”

Opened Wednesday

North, The Easter Bunny, The Tooth Fairy and Sandman enlist Jack Frost to help them wage battle against Pitch the Nightmare King in “Rise of the Guardians,” a DreamWorks Animation film based on William Joyce's “The Guardians of Childhood” series. The voice talent for this epic holiday film includes Alec Baldwin, Chris Pine, Isla Fisher, Jude Law and Hugh Jackman.

Director Ang Lee (“Brokeback Mountain,” “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”) brings Yann Martel's best-selling literary novel to 3-D in “Life of Pi,” which chronicles the journey of a young man who survives a sea disaster and finds a bond with a fellow survivor, a Bengal tiger. Irrfan Khan, Suraj Sharma and Rafe Spall star in the film.

“Silver Linings Playbook,” written for the screen and directed by David O. Russell (“The Fighter”), stars Bradley Cooper as Pat, a young man desperate to reconnect with his estranged wife after being released from a psychiatric hospital. Jennifer Lawrence plays the mysterious woman who is willing to help him do it, for a favor in return. Robert De Niro, Julia Stiles and Chris Tucker co-star in this adaptation of the Matthew Quick novel.

Chris Hemsworth (“Thor”) and Josh Hutcherson (“The Hunger Games”) lead the cast of “Red Dawn,” a remake of the 1984 Cold War melodrama about teenagers fighting an invading Soviet army. This time, it's the North Korean forces that get a taste of Wolverine retribution, with Adrianne Palicki (“Friday Night Lights”) and Jeffrey Dean Morgan (“Watchmen”) co-starring in this long-shelved feature.

Mary Elizabeth Winstead (“Scott Pilgrim vs. The World,” “Death Proof”) and Aaron Paul (“Breaking Bad”) star as an alcoholic couple dealing with the rock-bottom stages of their addictions in “Smashed.” The cast for this intimate variation on “Days of Wine and Roses” includes Oscar winner Octavia Spencer (“The Help”), Nick Offerman (“Parks and Recreation”) and former Oklahoma City resident Megan Mullally.

Mob enforcer Jackie Cogan (Brad Pitt) investigates a heist that took place during a Mafia-run poker game in “Killing Them Softly.” Pitt's second collaboration with Andrew Dominik (“The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford”), “Killing” includes performances from Mob-pedigreed actors including James Gandolfini and Vincent Curatola of “The Sopranos” and Ray Liotta of “Goodfellas.”

Director Marcus Dunstan follows up his 2009 thriller “The Collector” with “The Collection,” in which Arkin (Josh Stewart) is blackmailed into tracking down the villain from the original film and rescuing one of his fellow victims.

Dec. 7

George, a former athlete played by Gerard Butler, tries to get his life back together by coaching his son's soccer team in “Playing for Keeps,” but soon finds the gorgeous mothers on the sidelines (Jessica Biel, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Judy Greer) are becoming a distraction. This is the first U.S. release from “The Pursuit of Happyness” director Gabriele Muccino since 2008's “Seven Pounds.”

Jane Lynch (“Glee”), Rob Schneider and two Baldwins (Stephen and William) lend their voices to “Dino Time,” in which three kids unexpectedly trip the levers on an egg-shaped machine and find themselves transported to the Jurassic period.

Dec. 14

Director Peter Jackson's last journey to Middle Earth yielded “The Lord of the Rings,” a trilogy that earned the praise of fans and critics alike, won 17 Oscars and became one of the highest-grossing film series ever. So expectations are higher than the Lonely Mountain for Jackson's film version of “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” especially since the filmmaker announced earlier this year that what was once a two-part adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's “LOTR” predecessor will now be a trilogy.

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Brandy McDonnell, also known by her initials BAM, writes stories and reviews on movies, music, the arts and other aspects of entertainment. She is NewsOK’s top blogger: Her 4-year-old entertainment news blog, BAM’s Blog, has notched more than 1...